Falling for Fire
by Lou Snape
Summary: Hermione wakes up in a cell in 1939 and is told that she's an orphan. The orphanage she ends up at houses none other than the 12 year old Tom Riddle himself. Eventual M content when both characters are of age.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story will be a T for a while, until Tom is of age, and then it will be a M with a lot of M content if you get what I mean. Hope you enjoy this first chapter, please let me know what you think.**

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><p>She was being shaken. She groaned and tried to go back to sleep. She'd been having a great dream about owning a gigantic book store that had winding staircases leading up the hundred foot high bookshelves.<p>

"Wake up! Mrs Cole's here to take you to the orphanage." A gruff voice yelled in her ear.

That woke her up.

"W-what?" She said groggily, rubbing her eyes. She saw that she was lying on a cot in a cell. Her eyes widened. "What am I doing here? Where's Harry and Ron?"

"Harry and who? Nevermind them. You're an Orphan now, girl."

I'm a _what_? What had happened? Why was she in a cell and apparently an Orphan?

The police officer dragged her out of bed and out of the cell towards a middle aged woman with a stern face and dark bags under her eyes.

"This is her. Hermione I think she's called...unusual name." The police officer said, staring at her strangely.

"She's not the only one with an odd name in our Orphanage. We've got a Tom Riddle!" They both shared a laugh while the colour drained out of Hermione's face.

"Come on, we'd best be off." The woman, Mrs Cole, said to Hermione.

"I need to find Harry! Where am I?" She started shouting and yanked herself out of the police officers grip.

"She got hit on the head apparently and it's clearly jumbled up her head. Girl, your family have all died and you're here now, an Orphan. I'm terribly sorry..." He trailed off, looking like he had places he'd rather be.

"Where am I? am I in Scotland? What year is it?" She had a horrible feeling that something dreadful had happened. Tom Riddle was here? Was she dreaming or something?

Mrs Cole smiled sadly "Scotland? You really did take a bash to the head didn't you? It's London, 1939."

Hermione gaped at her. What the hell...? London 1939? And Tom Riddle was at an Orphanage? Had she...no, she couldn't have!

Hermione realized with a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach that something terrible must have happened and sent her back in time, and for some reason these people thought she was an Orphan. It was very strange that they seemed to know her name too.

She groped her pockets and found with deep relief that she had her wand on her. She wasn't completely lost, so long as she had her wand.

"We really must be going, Mr Cole won't want to wait forever." Mrs Cole said sternly and Hermione wordlessly followed behind her.

Whatever was going on, she thought it was best to stay at this Orphanage till she figured out what to do next. So she followed Mr and Mrs Cole the short walk to The Orphanage.

It was a very large building with "Wools" engraved on the high iron gate. There was an Iron fence surrounding the building, whether that was to keep the kids in or keep people out she didn't know. Hermione walked through the gate and looked up at the building. There were lots of young faces looking sullenly out of the windows. Some staring at her, some staring at nothing in particular.

"The boys have the top floor and the girls have the second floor. I'll get Elise to bring up your clothes, what size are you? 12? 10?"

"I'm a 10." she replied, still staring at the children's faces looking at her from the windows.

"Very well. I'll show you to your room." And Mrs Cole led Hermione inside the building while Mr Cole went down the path, saying he had errands to continue with.

The Orphanage was dank and plain looking inside. The walls and floors were grey. It smelt musty and old. Directly in front of the front door was a large staircase which Hermione was led up. The stairs led to a very long corridor with lots of doors on both sides. The stairs curled around and continued going up, Hermione assumed that was to the boys floor.

Hermione followed Mrs Cole down the corridor and to one of the doors on the left. Hermione walked inside, and her first thought was; how very small. The room was tiny. There was only a single bed, window, bedside table and a wardrobe. The room looked clean enough, so she supposed it would do.

"This is your room. Elise will bring your things up shortly." Mrs Cole gave Hermione a smile that didn't reach her eyes and left her alone.

Hermione sat heavily on the bed and sighed. Whatever had happened, it wasn't good. She was stuck here so many years in the past and for some reason in Voldemort's orphanage. It didn't make sense. Hermione suddenly had a headache and lay down on her bed, wondering where it all went wrong

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><p>That evening was when she met him. She would have known it was him even though she'd never seen him before. She just <em>knew<em>.

It was dinnertime and Hermione was called down. She was wearing the grey uniform the Orphanage gave her which was customary for them to wear.

There were lots of tables dotted around. All of them were full except for two. One had three teenage boys who were openly leering at her, and the other had a young boy sat on his own. He was beautiful, and young, perhaps only about 12 and she knew instantly that it was him. He had dark hair and dark eyes and a very cute face. She almost laughed at the fact that Voldemort was a cute kid, but he was. He had an aura of darkness surrounding him that almost made Hermione turn back but she continued walking over to him, as really the company of a lone twelve year old boy (even though he was the future Voldemort, he hadn't hurt anyone yet) was preferable to the three leering teenagers. When Hermione sat opposite him he looked surprised, then went back to his food.

"Hello, I'm Hermione." She didn't know what possessed her to talk to him, but she felt compelled to.

He didn't look up from his food. "I'm Tom." was all he said.

Hermione nodded and started eating her food, if you could call it that. It was more like slop.

"So, Tom, what's it like here? I'm new." She asked him, taking in how he took small bites of his food and didn't look up from his plate much.

"I know. It's not great here...everyone's stupid." He said with a sneer.

Hermione felt her heart racing at having a conversation with the young Lord Voldemort. Even though he hadn't hurt anyone yet, or at least not that she knew of, it was still very surreal.

"I see." Hermione wanted to say 'and you're not?' but she refrained. She didn't want to end up on his hit list already.

Suddenly, one of the teenagers came up to Riddle and pushed him off his chair. "Scram!" He shouted. He was very spotty and had bright blonde hair, he had a malicious glint in his eyes.

"Hey!" Hermione shouted, standing up. "Leave him alone. He wasn't doing any harm." Hermione had absolutely no idea why she was standing up for Tom Riddle, but she supposed he was only a kid right now and she hated to see people bullied.

"Who asked you, love?" He said, winking.

"I'm not your love," she sneered "Now leave him be." She continued angrily.

The boy laughed and kicked Tom while he was on the floor then walked away when his friends called him over.

Tom got up and brushed himself off and sat back down, looking at Hermione in a peculiar way.

"Are you alright?" She asked as she sat back down.

Tom Riddle just nodded and continued staring at her in that peculiar way.

She'd just finished her dinner and was about stand up when she heard a whispered "Thanks." come from Tom Riddle.

She stared at him in shock. "He will pay for that, trust me." He continued with an evil grin.

A few days later the boy was found unconscious at the bottom of the stairs. Mrs Cole said he fell, but most of the kids had their suspicions that he was pushed and they had an idea who by.


	2. Chapter 2

"So Hermione, you're in here to fill out some forms with me. It's just that we don't have many details about you other than your name and the fact that you need to be in our care due to your parents dying. I know your memory isn't right at the moment so don't worry if you're not sure about certain things." Mrs Cole said.

It was the next day, and Hermione had slept badly from being on such a lumpy bed and felt a general sense of unease so wasn't in a great mood.

"Ok, go ahead." She answered, watching Mrs Cole as she wrote 'Hermione' on her file.

"What's your surname?"

"Granger."

"And how old are you?" Mrs Cole asked as she scribbled Hermione's surname on her folder.

"I'm 16." She replied.

"You'll be staying here till your 18 and then we'll help you find a job."

Hermione nodded and answered a lot more tedious questions, like what her parents names and occupations were, she said she couldn't remember. And if she had any savings, she answered negative.

"Ok, thank you for helping me with this. You can get back to whatever you were doing now." Mrs Cole said, dismissing her.

Hermione walked around the Orphanage, getting to know the place she'd be staying for the foreseeable future. Hermione was pleased to see there was a small library. There was only four small shelves of books, and each book was falling apart at the seams, but Hermione eagerly scooped up a battered copy of one of her favorite muggle books, Wuthering Heights, and was about to take it up to her room when she saw a familiar face staring at her from the corner of one of the bookshelves.

"Tom!" Hermione exclaimed, clutching the book to her chest. "You gave me a fright." She then smiled at him, to which he looked at her in a confused way. Like he'd never been smiled at before...Hermione immediately felt sad for him.

"You like books." He acknowledged, staring at the book in her hands "Nobody reads around here except for me." He was still giving her that peculiar look, like he was trying to figure her out.

"I adore reading" she said, nodding, and sat on the other side of the window ledge opposite him. "What's your favorite book."

He sat there, considering for a few seconds. He looked adorable with his brows knitted together in concentration. "One from my school. I can't tell you which one it is, but it's very interesting." he had a dark expression on his face as he said this, a look of longing. Hermione thought it was probably a book from the restricted section knowing him, even though he's most likely just a first year.

"What's your school like?" She asked him, resting her chin on her knees.

"It's amazing, the best place I've ever been." He said enthusiastically, but then as if catching himself he stopped talking instantly. "Why do you care?" he asked darkly, narrowing his eyes at Hermione.

"I'm just interested I suppose" Hermione said nonchalantly, and shuffled her legs around to get comfier. Then, as if in slow motion, her wand fell from her pocket and scattered to the ground.

Hermione bent down to pick it up but a commanding voice, which sounded much older than the person himself, shouted "Stop!"

Hermione paused, and stood stock still. She shouldn't be afraid of a 12 year old, she tried to chant to herself, even if he did push that boy down the stairs in cold blood. Hermione knew it was Tom, even if Mrs Cole didn't.

Tom slowly walked over to the wand and picked it up. He held it in his hand for a few seconds, staring at it intently, then looked at Hermione in wonder. "This isn't mine...how-how did you get this? Do you even know what it is?" He looked at her through wide eyes.

Hermione gulped and decided it was probably best to just come out with the truth. "It's mine. I'm a witch."

Tom Riddle narrowed his eyes at her "How? I would have seen you at Hogwarts. You're a liar"

Hermione took in a sharp intake of breath when he wrapped his hands around the wand as if about to snap it. "Tell me how you got this, or I snap it in half." He said, smirking at her darkly.

"Fine, fine I'll tell you! Just don't snap it!" Hermione yelled and slowly sat back down on the window ledge, with her hands out in surrender.

Tom looked satisfied and pocketed the wand and sat back down opposite her. "Speak." he commanded.

Already, at such a young age she could see how this was Voldemort. His command held so much weight that she instantly felt like she had to do as he said.

"I did go to Hogwarts, just not in your time-" Tom started pulling the wand from his pocket "Wait, wait! If I didn't go to Hogwarts how would I know about the Professor Dumbledore, or the Great Hall, or about Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin!" She took a deep breath and waited to see what he'd do. He narrowed his eyes but pocketed the wand.

"What do you mean 'Not in your time'?" He asked with a hint of curiosity in his voice.

"I mean...I was sent back in time. I don't know how, I just know that I woke up in a police cell and everyone was saying that I was an orphan and they took me here. I was wrapped up warm in my bed in Hogwarts when I fell asleep. I honestly don't know what's going on, just please give me back my wand." She held out her hand, and Tom Riddle was staring at her like he hadn't seen her properly before now.

"You're a witch...from the future..." He trailed off, looking like he didn't know what to say about the matter.

Hermione nodded at him "But this has to stay between just us two, I don't know why I've been sent back in time but it can't be good and I don't what anyone at Hogwarts to know about this, understand?"

He looked a bit peeved at being told what to do but nodded anyway and handed her back the wand, internally he liked sharing a secret with this girl. He wasn't sure why though.

For the next few weeks Hermione and Tom stuck together like glue. Hermione found herself becoming strangely attached to the dark young boy, she felt like she wanted to protect him. It seemed as though, oddly enough, she wasn't the one with the control in their...friendship? Whatever it was that they shared. He didn't command her again, but she got the feeling that he was controlling what went on around her. For instance, a young boy approached her and tried to make conversation with her and she noticed Tom looking on darkly, in an almost jealous way, and the next day the child wouldn't even look in her direction and sported a black eye that he wouldn't tell anyone how he got.

Hermione put it down to the fact that Tom Riddle had probably never had anything closely resembling friendship, so he was fiercely protective and possessive over the small little thing he had with Hermione. She thought deep down, much to her annoyance, that it was quite sweet.

That day, Hermione and the rest of the orphans were all lined up to meet the couples looking to adopt. Tom told Hermione not to worry, and that they only went for the babies and toddlers but never went near him even when he was a baby. Hermione was curious about this. Had he always had something dark about him that made people keep their distance? Hermione wanted to find out. She was finding herself becoming more and more curious about the boy the longer she spent with him.

The parents, there were about 3 couples, looked at all of them up and down. It felt disgusting, like she was being put on auction. We were told to stand up and say something about ourselves.

Tom was first. Hermione was surprised to see that he put on an evil smirk as he faced the prospective parents, Hermione saw it instantly put them off and they all stared at him like he was a dog with rabies. "I'm Tom and I'm 12 years old, I like reading and playing chess." He then narrowed his eyes at them and stepped back. Hermione was surprised that Mrs Cole didn't say something to him, but then noticed that she was standing at the back of the room. So this was how Tom stopped himself from being adopted? Why didn't he want to be adopted? Hermione made a mental note to ask him.

Next it was her turn. Confidently, she stepped forward. "I'm Hermione and I'm 16 years old. I also like reading and playing chess." She then stepped back and noticed that Tom was looking at her oddly, and had an almost smile on his face. Did he like that she'd copied him? Maybe it made him feel like she looked up to him or something, she had no idea what went through that boy's head.

After all the children had done, which was sad to listen to as they were all so desperate to be adopted, they dispersed and went back to their rooms where they'd wait and see if they'd be chosen.

As she was walking through the corridors with Tom, she asked him "Why don't you want to be adopted?"

He gave her a look "Why would I want one of those posh snobs to adopt me? And they're muggles, they'd never be able to handle the fact that I was a wizard and would probably kick me back in here"

Hermione supposed she got where he was coming from. "I see your point."

"What are you going to do once you leave here? You're a witch, you should be going to Hogwarts." He looked a bit put out.

"Get a job somewhere, I guess...maybe in Diagon Alley."

"But you'll have no NEWTs, you'll be lucky to get a job in Knockturn Alley." He said with a sniff.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, but then he gave her a look...a look that she'd seen him give Mrs Cole so she'd give him a snack or let him go to the Library. It was a look that made your heart melt for him. He was so cute, so beautiful and he could make himself look so innocent that Hermione almost fell for it and felt guilty for being a bit cross with him. Almost.

"Stop giving me that look, Tom!" She snapped at him.

He looked affronted "What look?"

"Your puppy eyed look, it gets you whatever you want. Well, not with me." She raised her head high and walked away.

She was sure she heard him mutter "We'll see."

"What was that?" She asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"I didn't say anything." he replied with a roll of his eyes.

They continued walking next to each other up the stairs and to Hermione's surprise even to her bedroom door.

"Tom, aren't you supposed to be going to your room?" She stared at him, and saw that he was totally at ease as though he was supposed to be here.

"They won't adopt me, or you. Nobody will know." He then opened her door and walked inside.

A thought struck Hermione "Why aren't you in Hogwarts right now?"

Tom sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair "Because Dumbledore says I have to come back here for Christmas and Summer holidays. That man hates me, I swear." His face contorted in rage and Hermione was a bit scared of him in that moment.

"When are you going to be 13?" She asked him, changing the subject.

"End of December" He replied, playing with the edges of the copy of Wuthering Heights that was in her room. Hermione was surprised, he didn't look almost 13. He looked younger than that. It wasn't that he was small for his age, because he wasn't, he was tall. But his face looked so...cute, that she supposed it made him look younger than he was.

"And it's December 21st now isn't it?" Hermione was sure she'd seen the date on Mrs Cole's newspaper.

He nodded and lay back on her bed.

Suddenly, a knock on the door interrupted their conversation and Mrs Cole walked in. She looked surprised, then annoyed to see Tom there. "Tom, you're supposed to be in your room! Get back up there this instant. Hermione, there's a couple who are interested in you. You're to come down and meet them."

Hermione was surprised, and than alarmed when she looked over at Tom and saw the pure rage in his eyes. "I'll be down in a second, Mrs Cole." Hermione said.

Mrs Cole looked about to argue but then shook her head and said "Fine, be quick." and shut the door behind her.

Suddenly Tom stormed towards Hermione. She saw anger in his eyes but something else too, panic. "Hermione, you can't go down there. You're not going. I won't allow it." He was scared, Hermione was confused to notice.

"Tom, what's wrong?" She leant forward and put her hand on his face and was sad when he flinched, but he didn't try to move her hand.

"You can't go. I won't allow it." He repeated, his eyes stormy.

"I'll be a brat then, don't worry I don't want to be adopted." He said, trying to calm him down.

His temper instantly dissipated. "Really?" he said, clearly relived.

"Yes." She said with a smile. And much to both their surprise, hugged him. She hugged him for a few seconds and he just stood motionlessly stiff in her arms. He was only a bit shorter than she was. Then she stepped back and gave him a wry smile, and walked out the door.

Well that was...odd. It almost seemed as if Tom Riddle was scared to see her go. Maybe she was the only person he'd ever got close to? Probably the only person to ever hug him.

Meanwhile Tom Riddle stood in Hermione Granger's bedroom, staring at the closed door and thought about how he couldn't lose her. She was the only person he was close to, even in Hogwarts he was a loner. She'd defended him, she'd protected him and she'd even hugged him. She was a book lover like he was and they had so much in common, she was even a witch. She wasn't just a muggle. When he looked at her he had a strange fluttering in his stomach. He didn't know what that was, but he knew deep in his gut that he couldn't let Hermione go. He swore to himself that day that she was his.


End file.
